Protochlamydia phocaeensis sp nov., a new Chlamydiales species with host dependent replication cycle

Jacques Y. Bou Khalil (1) , Samia Benamar (1) , Fabrizio Di Pinto (2, 3) , Caroline Blanc-Tailleur (1) , Didier Raoult (1) , Bernard La Scola (1)

1 URMITE - Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes
2 IHU Marseille - Institut Hospitalier Universitaire Méditerranée Infection
3 APHM - Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Marseille

Chlamydiae are pathogenic and symbiotic bacteria, which form an important part of amoeba-associated microorganisms. In this paper, we report the isolation, developmental cycle and genome analysis of Protochlamydia phocaeensis sp. nov., an obligate intracellular parasite with a large host spectrum, able to infect Acanthamoeba castellanii, Acanthamoeba polyphaga, and Vermamoeba vernnformis. The genome size is 3,424,182 bp with a GC content of 42%. This bacterium displayed a particular developmental cycle depending on the infected host. The P. phocaeensis showed typical inclusion vacuoles in A. castellanii, while these were absent in V vernnformis. Since ``Chlamydiae amoebae'' interactions are supposed to depend on the chlamydial species, our findings speculate that variations in the developmental cycle of certain Chlamydiae are also host dependent. (C) 2017 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Domaines: Maladies infectieuses

Jacques Y. Bou Khalil, Samia Benamar, Fabrizio Di Pinto, Caroline Blanc-Tailleur, Didier Raoult, et al.. Protochlamydia phocaeensis sp nov., a new Chlamydiales species with host dependent replication cycle. Microbes and Infection, 2017, 19 (6), pp.343-350. ⟨10.1016/j.micinf.2017.02.003⟩. ⟨hal-01573731⟩